Film can be at the forefront of social movements with stories reflecting the changes and progress in society . This year is no different with the transgender drama About Ray starring Elle Fanning (which The Weinstein Company abruptly delayed this week) and the recently debuted gay rights drama Freeheld starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page.

Based on the documentary of the same name, the drama follows a New Jersey couple, Laurel and Stacie (Moore and Page) who are forced to fight for their legal rights. Laurel is diagnosed with cancer and has to battle county officials in order to make sure her pension will end up in the hands of her partner Stacie.

Hot on the heels of a debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, a new Freeheld trailer has arrived, driven by a new ballad by chart-topping singer Miley Cyrus. Read More »

As people across the U.S. continue to celebrate the recent Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage, the first Freeheld trailer has come to remind us of the tough battles that brought us here. Based on a true story, the drama stars Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as New Jersey couple Laurel and Stacie. After Laurel, a cop, is diagnosed with cancer, she fights to ensure that her pension goes to Stacie.

At their side are Laurel’s police partner Dane (Michael Shannon) and New York activist Steven (Steve Carell). Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) directed and Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia, Soldier’s Girl) wrote the script. Watch the Freeheld trailer after the jump.Read More »

Thursday night is Jason Reitman‘s biggest live read yet. Literally. He and his cast will read Irvin Kershner‘s landmark sci-fi sequel, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and the venue has been changed from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Ace Hotel Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. Earlier this week, several members of the main cast were revealed. Aaron Paul will be reading the role of Luke Skywalker, and J.K Simmons the role of Darth Vader. But two of the main characters had yet to be revealed: Han Solo and Princess Leia.

The actors for those roles have now been revealed, and they’re pretty surprising. Han Solo will be read by Oscar-nominated actress Ellen Page and Princess Leia will be read by Jessica Alba. We’ll have a full report from the event Friday. For now, read more about the Empire Strikes Back live read below. Read More »

As True Detectivezeroes in on a female lead, Funny or Die is here to show HBO what they could do with two female leads. Specifically, two extremely small female leads played by Kate Mara and Ellen Page.

In the True Detective parody Tiny Detectives, Mara and Page prove to be every bit as tough, determined, and grizzled as Rust Cohle and Marty Hart ever were. But they face all sorts of challenges that Cohle and Hart never had to, because they’re just so damn short. Watch Tiny Detectives after the jump.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender had huge shoes to fill when they joined 2011’s X-Men: First Class. Not only were they tackling beloved characters, they were taking them over from iconic actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Nevertheless, they managed to make the roles their own in that film — only to face their predecessors in the new sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Indeed, a whole bunch of classic X-Men returned for the movie. Within the narrative, that was because Ellen Page‘s Kitty Pryde had powers that made time travel possible; within our own reality, that was because writer Simon Kinberg took on the challenge of bringing a classic comic book storyline to the big screen.

During a press event in New York, I had the chance to speak with both Professor Xes, one of the Magnetos, a Kitty Pryde, and the guy who tied all their storylines together. Watch our conversations after the jump.

If X-Men: Days of Future Past wasn’t a simple summer comic book movie, people would probably be talking about it having one of the greatest casts ever assembled. Multiple Oscar-winners, Tony-winners, Emmy-winners, from top to bottom, Bryan Singer‘s cast for the fifth X-Men film, out May 23, is simply insane.

Many of those stars – Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage and so many others – are featured in the first batch of stills from the film. The trailer hits on Tuesday but, until then, you have this tease and these images. Check them out below. Read More »

Seven years after X-Men: The Last Stand, Ellen Page has stepped back into her black leather suit to reprise the role of Kitty Pryde for X-Men: Days of Future Past. And she says she’d be happy to do it again, should Joss Whedon call.

The Avengers director has occasionally floated the idea of a Kitty spinoff movie starring Page, with no results to show for it so far. But should he ever get it off the ground, Page says she’d be “so thrilled” to get involved. Hit the jump to read her comments.

Lynn Shelton made her name with intimate, improvised dramedies like Humpday and Your Sister’s Sister. But her latest, Touchy Feely, sees her taking a broader, more traditionally scripted approach, to mixed reactions.

The new film reunites Shelton with her Your Sister’s Sister star Rosemarie DeWitt, who’s playing warm, free-spirited masseuse Abby this time around. Her life turns upside-down when she develops a sudden and inexplicable aversion to human touch, putting not just her career but her relationship with her boyfriend (Scoot McNairy) in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, her uptight dentist brother Paul (Josh Pais) journeys in precisely the opposite direction, as he mysteriously gains a “healing touch” that sends new patients flocking to his practice. Ellen Page, Allison Janney, and Ron Livingston round out the cast. Watch the trailer after the jump.

Bryan Singer continues his practice of beating paparazzi and spy photographers to the punch with photos of the cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The director/producer has used twitter to offer first looks at characters such as Storm, and now he’s given fans the first image of Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde. Well, the first look at the actress as she appears in this film; she first played the character in X-Men: The Last Stand, released in 2006.

In the Days of Future Past comic storyline from 1981, Kitty Pryde is one of the primary characters, as an older version of the character possesses her younger self, and is the method by which the X-Men learn of a possible future in which mutants are interred in prison camps, or, in the case of high-profile figures, exterminated. We don’t know how large Page’s role will be in Singer’s film version of the story, however. She may set the story in motion, and act one link between the two cinematic X-Men casts, or she may have a much larger role. Regardless, see the full pic below. Read More »

After turning heads at Sundance 2012 with The Sound of My Voice, director Zal Batmanglij and star Brit Marling followed up with the similarly themed The East at this year’s festival. Now, as the film heads for a theatrical release, Fox Searchlight has unveiled a new trailer.

Marling plays a private intelligence operative who’s tasked with infiltrating The East, an underground eco-terrorist group that’s been wreaking havoc on the lives of her powerful clientele. Once she’s in, however, she begins to fall for its leader (Alexander Skarsgard) and finds herself rethinking her own priorities. Watch the video after the jump.